Small commodities, big infrastructure

A visual essay on the socio-spatiality of commodity trade infrastructures in Yiwu, China

Datos Bibliográficos

ID21768024
AutoresLaura Henneke (Goldsmiths University of London, autor de correspondencia)
Año2020
Volumen21
Fecha de publicación2020-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaArticulo – revue de sciences humaines (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 1661-4941 • E-ISSN: 1661-4941
EditorialOpenEdition (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.4000/articulo.4707
OpenAlexW3133405329
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas1
Referencias citadas27

The landlocked city of Yiwu in Zhejiang Province, China is considered to be the world’s biggest wholesale market for small commodities where low cost consumer goods such as kitchenware, toys, and electronics are traded in bulk before being retailed in (pound)shops around the world. Linked to the rest of the world through a multimodal transport network, Yiwu lies on the ‘backroads of globalisation’ along which minor, low-grade, low-value products travel (Knowles 2014). Building on work by social scientists who question the entanglement of state power, physical infrastructures, and people, this visual essay uses the theoretical lens of infrastructures as well as the lens of cameras to investigate the interdependence of Yiwu’s wholesale and logistics infrastructure and the individuals who work in them to facilitate the global trade of small commodities

Business · China · Commerce · Economics · Geography · Globalization · Landlocked country · Market economy · Multimodal transport · Computer Science · Engineering · Water Governance and Infrastructure · Marketing